"THE HONOURS."

Otago Witness, Issue 2409, 3 May 1900, Page 65

"THE HONOURS."

The Scottish regalia, now in the Jewel Room ,in Edinburgh Castle, is pathetically interesting. "The Honours, as the Crown, Sceptre, and Sword of State are termed, have had "some curious adventures ; their days of risk and-days of glory are alike over now, and few who, glance at them as they rest on their faded velvet cushions behind bars of protecting steel s give a thought to the stoimy times of Scotland's Monarchy, of which they are one of the few relics existing to-day. The Crown was made by order of Robert the Bruce, the ancient Regalia having been lost in the wars with Edwaid I of England. Bruce himself had been hurriedly crowned at Scone with a " temporary crownlet" (tradition says it was of gilded steel), and determined that his successor should have a 'worthier diadem. The Sceptre was made for James V, the father of the lovely and unfortunate Queen Mary. The Sword of State is a little older, having been sent by Fope Julius II to James IV shortly before the disastrous field of Flodden. Tothese has been added the " George " worn by Charles I on the scaffold, the saint and his horse one mags of diamonds, which conceal a miniature of Henrietta Maria. This relic was left by Cardinal York, the last of the Stuarts, to George IV, and he sent it to lie beside the Stuarts' Crown in Edinburgh.

In 1652 the Regalia was in the Castle of Dunottar, which was the only place of strength in the kingdom that still resisted the English arms. Cromwell had fought the Battle of Dunbar, occupied Edinburgh

and reduced Stirling; and the Committee of Estates (which was trying Io keep alive the Royal cause at the time) sent the Regalia* to Dunottar -under the care of the Earl Marischal. The garrison -held out bravely for many months. The Earl Marischal had been captured and shipped) oif, a prisoner to London. Ogilvie, who commanded in the fortress, saw that the end was very near, and that, if he wished to save the lives of his people, he must soon capitulate.- - And he knew very well that " The' Honours " must then be surrendered, a fact which galled him more than all the rest of .his - miserable plight.

One day, a 'lady, the wife-of the minister of .Kinefi, asked to see Lady Ogilvie. She was Mistress Christian Grainger, and she had a pass from the English Commander., Little curiosity was excited bj r so insignificant a visitor, Ogilvie himself not hearing of her at all. But she brought with her a key -which the Earl' Marischal had managed to smuggle into'hSr harta's — the key: of the chest where " The Honours" lay. . Lady Ogilvie promptly seized -her idea-Oi conveying the Regalia to a place of hiding, a-nd, without > consulting or informing her husband, took affairs into' her own. hands. The Crown - was bundled into tha cloth riding dress which 'sat in many plaited fulness about the waist of the minister's wife, the Sceptre and Sword were wrapped -'in long, hanks of lint and placed on -the shoulders'- of her maid. When the lady and her attendant returned through the beleaguering camp it appeared as though she were taking away some lint to be spun for Lady Ogilvie; and bhe unsuspecting English officer politely assisted Mistress Grainger to mount her horse, and watched her ride away without a thought of trickery.

For three more months the castle held out, and when at last it surrendered great was the rage of the English at finding " The Honours " gone. It was adroitly given out that Sir John Keith, younger brother of the Earl Marischal, had carried them ovei' the sea to King Charles in Paris. But in reality Mrs Grainger and her husband, had buried them under '.' ane braid stanc" in the floor of their own little kirk at ivineff, telling to no human being the secret of the hiding-place. Eight years afterwards the wheel of fortune Charles'^Stuart to the top again ; and Christian Grainger took Sir John Keith to the corner where "The Honours" were buried, and proudly bode him resume his cfiarge. An .order, of the. Scottish Parliament, dated) January, 1661, rewarded Mrs. Grainger with two thousand marks, while Sir John Keith (who.se immediate share in the affair -was certainly .of the slightest)- was created Knight Marischal of. 'Scotland, with a salary of £4QO a. year,, to, which afterwards was added a Peerage, under the title of Earl of Kintore. " " "The Honours"" were brought back ■£» Edinburgh Castle, but in the" days of Queen Anne and the earlier Georges they were kept Rocked " out l>f sight in- a huge oak chest, ' wliich eventually was huddled into ,a lurtiber-room and forgotten. Sir Walter Scott instituted a search, which was, to his pride and delight, successful ;- -and the Regalia was borne with due ceremony before that very self-sufßcient and theatrical " King of Scots," George IV, as he made. ; kingly progress up' the High street from Holyrood to the Castle. It had its Lord! Keeper then and Deputy-keeper ; and the Celtic Society '• all plaided and plumed in their tartan array," mounted guard ove*r it while it was absent from the Jewel Room in the Castle. That "was its' last adventure.